


Wall of Valor

by HinnyBellarkeSwan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 2 + 1 oneshot, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, Honoring those who serve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24886993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HinnyBellarkeSwan/pseuds/HinnyBellarkeSwan
Summary: Sometimes everyone just needs to be reminded of why they fight. Why they serve. Steve and Bucky come to SHIELD's Wall of Valor in search of inspiration.2+1 one shot in honor of their incredible friendship and in memory of the people who helped the Avengers and SHIELD save the world.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Wall of Valor

“Hey Steve?” 

The Captain looked up from his desk to find Nat and Clint standing in his doorway. He shot them both a small smile, exhaustion and frustration warring within him. “What’s up? Mission?” 

They both shook their heads. “No, there’s just something I think you should see and I’ve never had the chance to show it to you until now.” Clint nodded along with Nat’s words so Steve put his StarkPad down and stood. 

“It’s a quick flight cap but you can catch some zzz’s if you want.” Steve laughed at Clint’s exaggerated wink but shook his head. “Thanks but I gotta readjust to this timezone or my body will hate me more than it already does.” 

He followed them through the tower and onto a quinjet. “Where are we going?” The two agents shared a look before Nat sat beside Clint in the cockpit. “SHIELD had ways of honoring its history, of where it came from and its mission.” Nat picked up where Clint left off. “Yes the mission was corrupted by HYDRA but it wasn’t always that way, and not every agent was a HYDRA agent. When I first joined, Clint and Phil took me around, showing me some of the ways that SHIELD did it’s good work and honored where it came from. I figured it was high time you got the same. I was going to take you after New York but things got away from us both and now, well, now I think it’s something we all need to remember.”

Steve looked at her quizzically but she remained tight lipped on the details so he settled in. Sure enough it was a quick flight, and when they landed, it was on what looked like a college campus. There were young people milling about and carrying various backpacks and textbooks. 

“This is, well was, SHIELD Science Academy. The different arms of the agency each had an Academy. Operations was lost in the take down, Communications was down for a long time to weed out the bad from the good, same with this one but the government reopened this one and I think Tony or someone bought Communications.” 

Nat smiled over at Clint. “I never got why the Academy’s were separate. The Red Room operated like moving through grades, or something similar but nothing was really this compartmentalized. But seeing these places, the future of SHIELD and the difference in how they learned good from bad, right from wrong, it was a good way to show me that SHIELD was different.” 

“So why are we here now?” Steve was curious, glancing around and taking in the relaxing green space and the artist in him aching for a chance to draw some of the greenery, some of the scenes. 

“Because there’s a piece of SHIELD’s history that still stands here, unlike the other two Academies.” Clint and Natasha strode over the grass toward a building with a lot of floor to ceiling glass windows and Clint held the door open for Steve and Nat. He followed the red head into the foyer and she gestured forward. 

“SHIELD honored every agent who died in service, or tried to.” She pointed at a monument in the center of the foyer’s atrium. “A Wall of Valor stood in each Academy to remind cadets and recruits what they were working for, what legacies they were honoring.” 

Nat stepped closer, running a finger along the edge of the wall, while Steve had frozen to his spot. “The tradition started with the founders of SHIELD. Howard, Colonel Phillips, Director Carter. They honored the agents lost to the SSR during the war and after and kept the tradition when they founded the new organization.” 

Clint gently nudged Steve forward. “The world never forgot you Cap, and yeah, your name is on here, but it’s not alone.” Steve leaned closer, suddenly desperate to see what he was sure he would find. It was so very Peggy to do it. 

Sure enough, in the first date range, right near the top and next to his own name there was the old Howlies Insignia that he himself had designed, and under it was the name of his best friend. 

James “Bucky” Barnes. 

Steve sucked in a breath. “The world never forgot the man you saved, the man you fought for Cap. Bucky was as much an inspiration to some of us as you yourself. He stayed in a war that nearly killed him to follow his best friend into battle. He was one of the best snipers the US Army has ever had and he was a damn good man.” Steve stared at him in wonder.

“I didn’t make the connection before, when you called him Bucky.” That had Steve’s head whipping from Clint to Nat. The sad, guilty smile on her face had him bracing himself. “I also didn’t realize it before, in DC. The memory didn’t come back to me until recently. The Red Room wasn’t as bad as HYDRA but if they wanted to hide things in our minds or make us forget, they did.” 

Steve sucked in a breath. “I knew him at first as Yasha. They were careful never to use his code name in front of us. I was always a curious child though. Something Madame B both loved and loathed.” The tired smirk from that quip slid right back off her face. “I found a file in a commanding officer’s quarters once. With the name James and Yasha’s picture. He was supposed to train us, and he did. He was brought back a few years later to partner with some of us in the field. He was always quiet, but something flashed in his eyes once when I told him about the file, and the name.” 

Steve sighed. “They made you forget, and you didn’t see him again until Oddessa.” Nat smiled, and this one had more life, even if the reasons were tragic. “Yes, but Steve, thinking about Odessa now, I think he left me alive for a reason. The MO for the Winter Soldier was never to leave collateral. Sure he shot me to get to the engineer, but for me, it wasn’t a fatal shot. He hit nothing vital. Not many men could make that shot.” 

Steve inhaled. “Are you saying…” Nat shrugged. “He may have remembered me, even if he didn’t actively remember. It could be subconscious. Like you and the helicarrier. I don’t know, and he definitely was trying to harm in DC but again, he had a line for a headshot and he hesitated. He may have taken it if you hadn’t interfered but he hesitated before you did.” 

“Bucky never hesitated, not when he had someone in his sights that wasn’t supposed to be there.” Nat nodded. “Exactly. So, what I guess I’m trying to say is, I’m not going to ask you to stop looking. If you find him, I’ll help you. I know what it’s like to be re-made.” 

Clint pushed off the pillar he had been leaning on. “Me too. I never understood certain things about Nat’s past until Loki. Now, now I get it and your friend has lived far too long at the expense of others. We figured you both should know that the world remembers who you are and how all this started.” 

Nat nodded. “There would have been no SHIELD without you or the Howling Commandos. The names with yours, both of yours, on that wall, joined you in making sure the world they wanted to protect was a better place when they left it, or that it had the chance to be.” 

“Not just as Captain America and the Howling Commandos. Sure, Director Carter used that symbol, but she didn’t use your alias. She used your name, and made sure his was right next to yours, on your six like always.” 

Steve ran a gentle finger over Bucky’s name, the insignia he hadn’t seen outside a museum in seventy years and closed his eyes to murmur a quiet prayer. Then he turned and faced his teammates, his friends, “thank you.” 

The quiet words were deep and heartfelt. Both former agents smiled in return. “You're welcome Cap.” 

*** 

“Hey Buck?” 

James lifted his head from the journal he had been writing in to find Steve leaning against a pillar in their apartment in Stark’s tower. His...friend had an assessing look on his face and after the long few days they had both had, some of the more grueling of his recovery, he couldn’t blame him. 

But Steve hadn’t left his side, not once, since he came in from the cold almost two months ago. He had just welcomed him, smoothed things over with the Avengers and got the ball rolling on helping him. He ensured him that no one would ever use Bucky the way he had been used for the last seventy years here. 

So the Soldier had decided to stay, and as Bucky continued to wake up, to come back to himself, the Soldier made room for him and now, slowly, they were coexisting in his mind. But some days were bad; days where he remembered nothing but the copious amounts of blood on his hands, days when he disassociated for hours, days when he was tense and on edge. There were good days too. Days where he got back memories of before the war, of his family. Of the man who brought Bucky Barnes back. 

That same man who was looking at him now with nothing but the ever present faith that Steve had always looked at him with. It blew Bucky away sometimes. 

‘What’s up Stevie?” The man didn’t smile, not like he usually did when he rolled out the forgotten childhood nickname. 

“Can I show you something?” James tilted his head, studying the man who had saved the world at least twice. This seemed important to him so he closed the pen in his hand and the journal and crossed the room, clapping him on the shoulder. 

“Sure, let me put this away.” Steve nodded, so James ducked into his room to dump the journal on his nightstand and grab the few weapons he didn't leave the tower without and returned to find Steve sliding into that old leather jacket he had found, and waiting by the elevator. 

James had been right to guess that they were leaving their floor. Something he still struggled with, but was working on, and getting better with, everyday. “Lead the way pal.” Some of Steve’s old smile shone through at that, putting him a little more at rest. 

Steve led him off the elevator and into the hangar bay for the Avengers quinjet. Steve walked right up to, and into the jet, so Bucky followed. Inside he found him smiling fondly at a small piece of paper before tucking it into his pocket and turning. “It’s not a long flight, are you good with leaving the tower for a bit? Getting some fresh air and new sights?” 

“Sure Steve.” So the blonde settled into the cockpit and a moment later they were leaving Avengers Tower behind. James himself slid into the seat next to Steve and watched him as he lifted them into the sky and got them moving. 

“Do I get to know where we are going?” The hint of trepidation couldn’t be hidden in his voice, the Soldier hated surprises, and after the last seventy years, Bucky wasn’t really a fan of them either. 

“A few months before you came back, I had just gotten back from Europe. Sam had gone home and I went straight to my office because I was desperate to find you, to get rid of HYDRA, to finally set so many things right.” Steve held up a hand when James went to cut him off. “In my mind Buck, that’s how it was.” 

He looked back out at the endless blue sky before them and fiddled with a few buttons. “I hadn't been in my office long when Nat and Clint came to get me, wanted to take me on a field trip, show me something and talk, so I let them drag me away. It was worth it.” 

“That’s not really an answer Stevie.” 

His laugh got a little louder. “So, SHIELD was founded by Colonel Phillips, Howard and Peggy a few years after the war. They started it to continue the work we had been doing with the SSR before, during the war. Howard oversaw the tech and science side of things and Peggy and Phillips handled the agents and missions.” 

Bucky nodded, listening quietly. “They wanted to remember where they came from, what the mission was and should always be about so they created something to do just that.” 

“And you want to show it to me?” 

Steve nodded, guiding the bird out of the sky and touching down. He flipped the stealth shield on and then faced Bucky. “I was a mess Buck. I had just learned that everything I thought died for was a lie. That everything I thought to be true wasn’t and I found out that you weren’t really you. That you had no idea who I was. Then SHIELD fell and my world, the little bit I had managed to right for myself after the ice, collapsed with it so I was going through the motions but not really living.” 

Those deep blue eyes looked away from him but Bucky stayed quiet, letting him open up and reveal what he saw fit with no rush. “I forgot how to be Steve Rogers, sometime between going into the ice and well, some days I still don’t know who he is, not really.” 

He opened the hatch at the back of the plane and stood. “Then Nat and Clint cornered me, brought me here. This is one of the corners of SHIELD that is still operational. It’s the Science and Research Division’s academy but I would place money on the remnants of the organization all being funneled through here. Hiding in plain sight. But anyway,” he started walking forward and Bucky followed, taking in the greenery and determined nature of the air as they walked. 

“They brought me here and showed me a chunk of our history, you, me, SHIELD, the SSR, and I found a little piece of Steve Rogers that day, so I thought maybe you could find a piece of you too.” 

He led them into a larger atrium and pointed him toward an unassuming wall. Until you faced it headon, then you realized what it was and boy, did that make him freeze. 

“A Wall of Valor?” Steve nodded. “According to the other two, the other two academies had a replica of this. There was something in the Triskelion, but it didn’t have these.” 

Names, insignias. Personal touch. 

“Go on, take a look.” Bucky stepped forward and caught sight of the dates running across the tops of the sections and under the first range he caught sight of a familiar insignia. The Howling Commandos call sign, one he hadn’t seen outside his memory in over seventy years. 

There were two, side by side. “The world never forgot what you did Buck. What you went through before Captain America showed up on the war front. It’s why you come before me. You and the other Howlies were fighting long before I ever showed up.” 

Sure enough, under that familiar insignia were two equally familiar names. Even if the familiarity of them both was only just coming back to him after seventy years of hell. 

James “Bucky” Barnes.

Steven G. Rogers.

“Captain America’s not listed.” Steve’s smile turned fond. “I asked Peggy about it, the next time I saw her after Clint and Nat brought me here, and she was lucid enough to remember. She told me that Captain America was a symbol, a rally cry, not a man. That Steve Rogers was the man under the myth, that he was the one who’s name should be on the wall because without that name, there would be no Captain America and I…” Bucky looked away from the wall to his friend at the hitch in his voice. “I think I really needed to hear that because, ever since I woke up, it felt like the world saw nothing but a myth when they looked at me and I didn’t even know who I was outside of Captain America.” 

Steve sighed. “Sam even asked me once, not long before everything happened, what I liked to do, what I would do without SHIELD and war. I couldn’t give him an answer. The man who used to draw, the man who only ever wanted to be bigger and stronger than he was so that he could actually be useful felt dead.” 

He moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with James, facing the wall. “Clint said that the world never forgot, but not just Captain America. SHIELD studied my tactics and used my playbook, but they did so using my name, not the alias. Peggy made sure the world never forgot you're sacrifice either. He said that the story of a man who chose to go back into a fight he could have walked away from to have a friend’s back and see some justice done in the world inspired him. You inspired him Buck. Just like you did for me all those years ago.” 

Again, James opened his mouth but Steve held up a hand, again. 

“Yes, I know you may not be that man anymore, that you never will be him in the same ways again but Buck, you weren’t the same after Azzano either and that didn’t change the fact that I admired the hell out of you. That the other Howlies didn’t respect the hell out of you. It’s that man that Peggy knew and she put you on that wall. It’s that man that survived the hell that I left you to deal with while I slept. That is who Bucky Barnes is. Sure, the Winter Soldier was an assassin and he did terrible things, but he also taught little girls how to braid hair and found ways to circumvent the system when he could.” 

Bucky eyed Steve sharply and he shrugged. “Nat fessed up when we were here. She told me what she remembered and as it's been coming back to her, more and more, she’s told me and Clint other things.” 

“She never said.” Steve shrugged. “She’s Nat, she won’t. She’s also waiting till you're ready to go to her. She’s patient.” 

Bucky stared back at the wall. He ran his finger along the insignia that had changed both their lives. “I was so mad at you.” Steve froze, head tipping. 

“I can remember that now. After we made it out of there, and we were marching back, I kept trying to find the man I knew from Brooklyn under all, well that,” He gestured at his friend’s height and brawn. 

“You talked the same, and some of the things you did were the same but the man I had known seemed gone.” he snorted. “Then I realized your dumbass dove out of a plane, sans chute, and single handedly saved all our asses and I was pissed. You were supposed to be at home, safe, and far away from war and instead you went and let the army test untested experiments on you because you wanted to help.” 

Bucky faced Steve now, not the wall and put a hand, one flesh and one metal, on each shoulder. “It was that skinny ass punk from Brooklyn that that man followed. It was that same man that brought me back. For better or worse. That man wasn’t Captain America Stevie. It was Steve Rogers. I remember him, even if you don’t or can’t. I do. You're helping me find Bucky Barnes? I can help you find Steve Rogers. Together?” 

A slow smile spread across Steve’s face at that and he glanced between him and the wall. “Yeah Buck, I think we can do that.” 

“Good, besides someone has to be around to remind you what a punk you are.” Steve snorted but his smile was wide despite the teasing. “Jerk.” Bucky tipped his head and gave him a phantom version of the old smirk and then looked back at the wall one more time. 

“Guess we both need to work on being the men Peggy admired enough to put on that wall huh?” 

Steve’s nod was full of the old Stevie determination and, like always, Bucky was right there with him, on his six, ready to follow him to the next adventure. 

***

Two years later, and Bucky felt as close to his old self as he was ever going to. The trigger words that had nearly ruined Steve’s life had been taken care of and he was happily living with his best friend in Avengers Tower and earning his right to be called a hero again. 

The Avengers roster now included a former Winter Soldier. Like Clint, Bucky preferred to be long range, his sniper’s instincts of the consistents of his long life. The other, looking out for one Steven Grant Rogers, and he once again found himself in a sniper’s blind looking out for Steve’s six. 

He had re-formed a friendship with the Black Widow, one formed from long years as someone else’s tool and bonding over the holes in their memories that they both guessed would never really be filled. 

He had grown close to Hawkeye as well. The man knew what it was to have a before, during, and after mind control, even if his span was a lot shorter than Bucky’s. 

Dr. Banner was a great help in returning his mind to itself, and between the Doc and the Wakandan Princess, Bucky was able to call his mind his own. Wanda had even volunteered to help in her own way, desperate to help right the wrongs that she and her brother nearly caused with HYDRA. Steve and Bucky hadn’t let her, she had seen enough violence as it was. 

He even could be considered a friend of Tony Stark’s. Even though he had been the one to kill his parents, Stark had been able to forgive him, even helped to make him a better arm, one that didn’t make his body ache. 

Hell, most days Bucky could even tolerate Sam Wilson and his ridiculous amounts of affection for Bucky’s best friend and all things Captain America and the Commandos. He was a good guy, Bucky could admit that, and good for Steve, but Bucky would always be Steve’s best friend. Sam sometimes ‘conveniently’ forgot about Steve and Bucky’s decades of friendship and tried to seem like he knew Steve better. 

Yes, the ice and near death had changed his friend, that much Bucky could tell, even if it was something Steve barely talked about. But it didn’t undo the long years that Bucky had spent learning Steve, praying over his sick body and covering his new one in war. Steve was, intrinsically, still the same man he had been in the 1940s, but he had some different views on life now. He had also become slightly less prone to rash decisions, and more likely to think, at least a step or two, ahead of himself now. 

Steve Rogers was still the man that Bucky Barnes remembered, and the man that brought the Soldier in him back from the void. 

Bucky could only hope that he was enough of the man Steve remembered as well. After all, they shared a floor, and a life and sometimes, at least to Bucky, it seemed almost like all the best parts of the 1940s had moved to the future. 

Now they had the chance to help a new generation of heroes, so that they didn’t make the same mistakes that they made in the past. 

Steve and Tony had been expanding the Avengers.

It started with the wonder twins (Wanda and Pietro), and expanded from there. Tony brought Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man into the fold, and Steve brought Wilson. Tony’s friend Rhodey joined up, and Peter’s friend MJ was training with Clint and Natasha and would one day suit up too. 

Bucky watched Steve lead the team, watched him take the time with the younger heroes, watched him lend an ear and patience to those that needed it and Bucky knew, just as he had in that bar in the 40s, that Steve Rogers was a born leader. Maybe it took a new body for the rest of the world to catch up, and then seventy years on ice to boot, but Bucky had been following him since the day they met. 

And now, once again he was following where Steve led. He was helping him train, helping Stark with the engineering of new toys and tech for the team (now that he was caught up on twenty-first century engineering) and he was growing close with the younger Avengers. 

Peter Parker and Wanda both brought out parts of Bucky that he hadn’t felt since before the war all those years ago. 

Wanda brought him memories of his sisters and long days spent making sure they were okay. Watching Wanda lose her brother, learning to live with that loss, had brought out his protective instincts. His need to shelter her from the pain of the world, not that she hadn’t already experienced enough of it. 

Peter reminded Bucky of the Stevie of his memories. The skinny, sickly kid who just wanted to help and who hated bullies. Peter had the look (though it hid impressive strength). He was slim and gangly, and he just wanted to help. His reasons for putting on a suit and helping protect the world were as noble as Steve’s decision to take the serum- a chance to help save the world was never overlooked. Peter brought out the long buried jovial side of him. The man who used to tease Steve, the man who used to drag Steve out, away from his sketchbooks or his sickbed, and make him laugh or smile. Peter needed that. The kid got far too serious (so much like Steve!) and he could get lost in the lab with Stark for days if he was allowed. 

So Bucky got him out, sometimes Tony to, and made him laugh or smile instead of the frown or the crinkle of worry that formed on his forehead, the perpetual am I doing enough look that made Bucky want to remind him that it was okay to still be a kid, to remember to have fun and enjoy life, not just dedicate it to serving others, or he would burn out. 

Steve just laughed when he found Bucky sitting with Wanda between his knees, his hands twisting braids into her hair. Or when he found Bucky joking with Peter or watching Star Wars with the kid (for the millionth time, not that either of them cared). 

Life for Bucky was better than he could have ever fathomed when he first came in from the cold and seventy years of blood and pain. 

But here he was, an Avenger and about to follow Steve on yet another adventure. 

SHIELD had been re-built and since Fury was supposed to be dead (one of Bucky’s very, very rare failures as the Soldier) he chose his right hand to be the new face of his agency, once it came out of the shadows. And once again the Avengers partnered up with SHIELD. Stark let them claim one of his properties in upstate New York and build there, but the Avengers kept the tower for themselves. 

The one thing that Nat, Clint and Steve all demanded be placed in the new facility was the Wall of Valor, updated and there to serve as it’s perpetual reminder. Agent Hill had no complaints. Only a request, that Steve and Bucky be there the day the Wall was finished and the facility opened. And she wanted Stevie to give a speech. 

So Bucky was once again standing in front of the wall that bore both his name and his best friends. He couldn’t see them, not yet, but he knew they were there. 

A hand clapped his shoulder and he looked to his side to find Steve, decked out in a fancy blue suit since he refused to wear the uniform for this, and Bucky gave him a smile to match the one on his face. 

“What do you think Buck?” 

“I think you better get ready to give that speech Stevie. I don’t need to see the wall to know it’s great and your whole team is here to listen to you.” Steve laughed. “Our team Buck. And don’t worry, I think you’ll like this one.” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I’m not Wilson, I don’t rank your speeches punk.” That earned a full blown laugh. “Jerk! Shut up and get ready, Hill’s about to start.” 

Sure enough when Bucky turned to face the makeshift stage in the huge atrium of the new SHIELD complex, he found Hill at the foot of the stairs, about to go up and call the audience to attention. An audience that included the entire Avengers roster, military and government officials, and the first batch of cadets to graduate into the new SHIELD agency. 

As the new director stepped onto the stage, she glanced back and Steve gave her a cheeky thumbs up, making her eyes roll. 

“Welcome, I want to thank you all for coming today. I am truly honored to have been given the opportunity to lead SHIELD as we start a new journey. One free of HYDRA and it’s infection. We have the chance to once again help protect the world, keep it safe, and work side by side with the heroes who have been doing just that, some for longer than SHIELD has existed. It was with their encouragement that SHIELD has been able to regrow and start anew today. It was also under the advice of some of the Avengers that we erected SHIELD’s Wall of Valor here, for everyone to see. Two of the Avengers are former SHIELD agents themselves and found great inspiration from this wall at different times in their long service to the agency. It honors two men gathered with us today, and a great many that are unable to be here, having given their lives in the greatest sacrifice, keeping the world safe. It is my pleasure to welcome Captain Steve Rogers and his friend Sergeant James Barnes to the stage.” 

Bucky followed Steve up the stairs and across the stage amidst the applause and shook Hill’s hand after Steve did. Then he took his position at Steve’s side and Steve stepped up to the podium. He gave Hill a smile and then grinned at the audience. 

“Thank you director. It was an easy decision to accept the chance to speak today. To dedicate this Wall of Valor to the agents that fought and died in service of their country and the world.” He glanced sideways and gave Bucky a small smile. “One of SHIELD’s old walls of tribute gave me the same inspiration and drive that it has given so many other agents through the agency’s long history. I was struggling to reconcile this insane new world and roll with all the changes in the wake of SHIELD’s fall and two good friends found the time to bring me to the wall, to see it and see the tribute the world had left not me, but some one very important to me.” 

Steve had Bukcy rolling his eyes, but he did so with a smirk on his face as he listened to his best friend let the world into the mind of Steve Rogers, even if just for this one moment. 

“I had spent years thinking Sergeant Barnes was dead, and upon learning that he wasn’t and that he had been tortured as a POW under HYDRA for as long as I had been stuck in the ice was a punch I couldn’t just roll with easily. Seeing that wall, seeing that world remembered him, not the Winter Soldier, but the man that had served at my side and served our country longer than even myself, helped me to find the courage to continue on, to figure out this new world and to make it one that I knew Bucky would want to help me keep safe. And I was right.” 

Bucky chuckled along with the rest of the audience and Steve paused a moment to laugh with them. 

“I brought Bucky to the same wall that had given me the motivation I desperately needed once, in hopes that it could do the same for him, and it did. Now, SHIELD is back, and stronger than ever. Ready to continue to keep the world safe from anything that should wish to cause it harm and it is my honor to dedicate a few new names to this wall, in honor of the people who helped us get here.” 

Two agents moved to the sides of the fabric covering the new wall and waited while Steve dedicated a few new names. 

“The first person to be added to the wall is a person without whom SHIELD would have never existed. Agent Margaret Carter, or as many knew her, myself included, Peggy Carter, served first as an agent and then as a director of SHIELD. She served with the SSR during World War II and was instrumental in my ability to save Bucky and the rest of the 107th. Without her I wouldn’t have even had the chance to become Captain America. Agent Carter dedicated her life to service of her country, and the world, and helped to found SHIELD and that fact was one of the things that made it easy for me to decide to serve SHIELD after the ice. I know I am not alone in feeling Director Carter’s impact and continued legacy.” 

Steve glanced at the audience, searching for one face and seemed to find it. “The next name is one that not many will know, but deserves to be there with the rest of them. Pierto Maximoff may have volunteered to let HYDRA experiment on himself and his sister, but when the world needed it, they both chose the right side and the right path. Pierto laid aside his differences with the Avengers and helped us save the world. He may not have been a SHIELD Agent in his lifetime, but for however brief a time it ended up being, he was an Avenger. He gave his life in service, protecting humanity in Sokovia.” 

Bucky found Wanda in the audience and saw the tears running down her face, but a gentle smile was on her face as Tony appeared at her side and led her forward. 

“Pierto’s sister continues what he gave his life doing. Protecting the world as a member of the Avengers and is here today to honor her brother’s memory and shares my hope that his story and the many others on this wall will inspire and motivate others in their times of need.” 

Wanda stepped onto the stage and gave Steve a hug before stepping to Bucky’s side and taking his hand. He squeezed her hand gently and she gave him a small smile, wiping tears away with the other. 

“It is our hope that this wall inspires fellow agents and Avengers to continue to dedicate their time to keeping others safe. The fight amy be long, hard, and seemingly unending, but someone has to fight it, and if that is you, and you choose to do so as an agent of SHIELD, remember that you are not alone, and that you are a part of a long history of service, and you're service and sacrifices will never be forgotten.” 

The cloth fell as he spoke and cameras began to flash, but Bucky kept his eyes on Steve. 

“Remember that a kind word and a helping hand can go as far, and maybe farther than a fist or violence. Remember that innovation is great, but limits exist inherently for a reason and to walk that fine line carefully. Progress is not worth the loss of one’s humanity. And finally, remember that you don’t have to be an Agent of SHIELD, or an Avenger to help keep the world safe. Small acts of kindness and bravery aren’t a small thing. After all, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and the rest of us were all doing our best to make the world a better place. The suits just made it easier to do so. Thank you.” 

Steve stepped away and swung an arm over Bucky’s shoulder, and in a comparison to the famous video clip of them from the war, Steve and Bucky smiled at the camera. Side-by-side and ready to give everything in hopes of making the world a better place.


End file.
